A day in the life of Cinnamon..or.....Clearly I am lacking blog fodder.

I am having a blog fodder shortage. It isn't that nothing is going on. Now that farmers' market is done, I have been really busy with craft shows and readying the barns for winter. I have been painting, cleaning, checking fences, disinfecting water troughs, deworming sheep and horses, and trimming ram hooves. I am also trying to get my sheepies' breeding pens arranged since I am planning on putting groups together sometime next week.

There are things happening, just nothing all that blogworthy. Sooooo, I am going to bore you with some cat pictures that I think are cute.

An introduction to Cinnamon.

Cinnamon is one of our barn cats, his life is very hard.

He has to.....like.....watch for stuff.

He has to check the lawn for, you know, things...comfort, stretchability and stuff.

All the other animals love Cinnamon.
Well, maybe not Rooster Cogburn. Cinnamon is just a tiny bit afraid of Rooster.
Bailie tries unsuccessfully to resist his charms.
As does Jordan.
( He is checking her tail for bounciness)Emma is not so easily persuaded.

"Whatever, dude, I'm not sharing my ball!"

And, after such an exhausting day, a well deserved nap.

Okay, I am going to try to get some sheepie pictures on here tomorrow.....and hope for some creativity to seep back into my brain.

I've been tagged!

After I originally posted this, I couldn't stand the fact that I had not included any photos....one of my other quirks, I guess, so I went back and added a few.

I was "tagged" a few days ago by fellow sheepy blogger friend, Melanie, and asked to tell 6 things about myself that people might find interesting, or quirky. I don't know how interesting this will be, but since we are talking about me, the quirky part goes without saying.

1) People might be inclined to ask me, "Were you born in a barn?". No, but I was practically raised in a tent. My first camping trip was at the tender age of 6 weeks. I don't mean the occasional camping trip with the family, plugging in your R.V. into an outlet next to 100 other R.V.'s lined up in a K.O.A. "campground". I was born in Connecticut, and my Memere and Pepere (grandma and Grandpa to you non-French-Canadian folk) had a cottage on Cape Cod. I am the youngest of 6 kids, and every year as soon as the older kids were out of school for the summer, we would load up the Vista Cruiser station wagon with 6 kids, 2 parents, Happy, our German Shepherd, and head for the Cape. When we arrived at our destination, not wanting to impose on my Grandparents, my Mom and Dad would pitch a huge tent, set up camp outside of the cottage, oh yea, and then dig a new pit for the outhouse across the road from our camp. We didn't go inside the cottage at all....ever...unless one of us was dieing....maybe then. We had a pump outside for water and the good old Coleman stove for cooking. Bathing? I don't really remember bathing, but we swam all day in the lake and then would go to the ocean on weekends. That would be our home for the entire summer. My dad would have to work in town during the week and come out to spend the weekends with us. Yup, we ran around like a bunch of feral children....loved it. LOVED IT. That is probably why I hate being indoors.

I found proof that I did have at least one bath...sort of.

Here is the whole motley crew. I am the goofy little one on the end.

Still goofy, now on the other end.
Here I am now, still goofy...but with a lot more teeth....like an Osmund...or a shark.....a LOT of teeth. A lot.
I know, you are confused, everyone that has read my blog and not met me tells me that they pictured me as a portly girl with dark curly hair and glasses. Well....maybe my roots are a little dark. Okay, they're dark, whatever.
B) I hate clowns! Loathe them, detest them, can't stand them. Don't try to tell me that they are funny and cute, 'cause they're not, and no.

III) I don't own a dress, or a skirt. I have bought them on occasion for a funeral or wedding and, yes, I have actually worn them, but then by the time I need one again they are out of style. I wear jeans. I have my 'good' jeans for going into town and such (they are generally newer and clean). I have 'riding' jeans (they are longer so that they don't start creeping up my legs while riding), I have 'around the farm' jeans. I have 'painting' jeans. I am hoping to get some Carhartt flannel lined jeans for winter....just to complete my wardrobe. I am a high maintenance kind of gal. My husband is a LUCKY guy. Did I mention that I am slightly sarcastic?

4) I don't eat anything with a face or a mother. I hate to say that I am a vegetarian, because people automatically assume that I am some kind of freaky flower child. I just don't eat meat. I cook it for my husband, I have no problem with other people eating it. I just don't. It irritates me though when people ask, "Well, you eat fish though, right?"..."Chicken?". ARE THEY VEGETABLES??? Okay, let's go over this again. Face? Mother? Then no.
Chocolate, on the other hand....no face, no mother......perfectly acceptable.

E) I am kind of...well, a lot of, a germaphobe. I don't mean animal germs, I can handle any kind of animal germs. No problem putting my hand in either end if necessary. I can clean up anything oozing, dripping, seeping, snotting...from an animal, but geeesh, shopping carts at grocery stores really gross me out...I don't even want to talk about the days before cell phones, when we had to use a public payphone in an emergency....or drinking fountains. GROSS!

6) Not quirky, or interesting, but I love this time of year. I love the colors of fall, I love the cooler temps. I love that when the crops have been harvested my neighbors allow me to ride my horses wherever I want on their property. I love planning for spring lambs. I love watching the combines out in the fields bringing in the harvest. I love watching the flocks of birds flying south.

Well, there you have it. I have lots of other quirky stuff, lots, but I don't want to scare off my dear readers. Thanks for the assignment Melanie, it was relatively painless! I can't believe I posted something without any pictures!

OUCH! That's going to leave a mark!

Why does getting ready for winter have to be so expensive? Our house is heated with propane and I have been playing the 'waiting game' to fill up the tank for the winter. Waiting, because the price was really high over the summer...which is normally not the case, and the price has actually been making it's way down from the really, really horrendous level, to the only slightly less painful level. I am not sure why I called it a game, because games, by nature, are fun, and this is by no means fun. Not even a little bit. Anyway, we finally bit the bullet and filled up the tank on Friday. OUCH!!! For you non-country folk, here's the thing, we have a giant 1000 gallon tank sitting in our back yard that holds the liquid propane to heat the house and the water heater....1000 gallons of propane...for the bargain price of $1.95 a gallon.....plus tax.......you do the math...I can't...it hurts too much. Oops, I mean it was $1.95 9/10ths.....what's up with that anyway? Just say it's $1.96, who are they kidding anyway? More expensive things to buy~

I have more hay coming this week. I am lucky enough to have neighbors that grow nice alfalfa and keep it very reasonably priced, however, I am still going to need a lot of hay. A lot. Once I take all of the critters are off the pasture for the winter, I go through about 2 1/2 bales a day, plus grain. I have about 100 bales in the barn right now, and I will be feeding hay from now until...oh...April probably. I need a lot of hay. Anyone who has livestock will probably understand this, others, not so much, but I get such a feeling of contentment when I have a barn full of hay and I know that I won't have to worry about feeding everyone for the winter. Hmmm, I guess that carries over into the rest of my life too...perhaps you saw my post about canning...I froze 5 dozen ears of corn today, by the way....sorry, I digress....just thought you should know.


I have also discovered that some of my stock tank deicers are not functional and will have to be replaced. They are not hugely expensive, but still, am I the only one that has to replace these dumb things every year? I don't know what happens to them, but they never seem to last more than one or two winters.


I am done complaining now. In keeping with my attention deficit condition, I am on to something else now. Yesterday was a beautiful day at Farmers' Market, and being that it is held right along the riverfront, I was able to watch the pelicans flying in formation in the brilliant fall sunlight. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten the lens that I want for my camera to get better distance shots, but you get the general idea. They are some of my favorite birds to watch in flight. So graceful.

Oh yea, other expensive stuff ( I told you I was attention deficit).

I need to go and get a new contact lens (yes, just one). I lost one of mine about 3 weeks ago and have been running around like a cyclops. What headaches?

While I was out riding one of my horses yesterday, I realised that my cell phone had fallen out of my pocket somewhere along the way. I had a pretty good idea where...somewhere out in my neighbor's bean field....in about a three mile radius. I looked and looked, came home, switched horses 'cause it was going to be getting dark, and I needed a faster horse...still couldn't find it. I headed out this morning with my husband's cell phone so that I could call my number and hopefully hear my lost phone ringing....somewhere out there. I only got about a mile down the road when I heard something....no, not my phone, it was a crack of thunder. Then I saw a flash of lightening.....yea, I want to be riding a wet horse in the middle of an empty field during a thunderstorm...good thing I had the fast horse, forget the phone! After it stopped raining I was determined to go out and find that flippin' phone. I got Jasmine (the fast horse) saddled, climbed up, rode to the end of the drive, looked down....huh, imagine that, phone was sitting at the end of our driveway the whole time, although now it is soaked with rain. Yup, I need a new phone now too.

Sleazy ewes and funky spuds

This morning when I got up to do chores, I was hit with the realization that, it is, in fact, October. As I opened the basement door to let the dogs out, I felt a rush of crisp, cold air...wait, what? I am not ready for this. I checked the temperature... 37 degrees, are you kidding me? I promptly stepped back inside and decided that I had better break out the Carhartts ( the best cold weather apparel ever invented, BTW....well, those and Cuddle Duds).

I couldn't help but notice how the ewes have dressed themselves too, suddenly wrapped in fluff, readying themselves for the long winter.

The girls have also, as of late, become increasingly friendly....really, really friendly. Oh, it's not like they are happy to see me, necessarily, they are just gazing longingly toward the ram pasture, with lust in their eyes, shameless hussies. Breeding season is rapidly approaching and the girls are showing all the signs that they are looking for love.


"But mom, the boys are sooo cute"!I am only going to be breeding 5 ewes this year....I think. Sorry girls.

I will post later who the lucky girls are.

"Geesh, what's the deal with these overly friendly girls anyway?"

Another sure sign that fall has arrived, my garden has become a tangled mess of weeds and bedraggled vegetable plants, futilely attempting to keep a grip on their very existence. Obviously, I have completely given up on weeding at this stage of the game and left the remaining plants to their own devices.

I picked and canned the last few green beans today. I also dug the rest of my potatoes, and in the process, discovered some interesting things that had been developing ( maybe festering is a better word) underground all summer. My first attempt at growing sweet potatoes seems to have been quite successful....or maybe it has nothing to do with my gardening abilities, perhaps it is the massive amount of manure that is in constant supply here....which ever, the end result was mammoth yammers.

When I dug up the last of the white potatoes, I found some wonderful, delicious looking potatoes, and I also find some pretty funky spuds. You may be wondering, did I find one shaped like a state, like the corn flake on EBay? Did I find one that looked like a celebrity, or a religious icon that people would come flocking from far and wide to pay homage to? No......I found one that looks like.. a fetus......maybe a chicken fetus....I don't know, we all look pretty much alike at that stage of the game. I don't think there is a big market for potato chicken fetuses. I won't be getting rich off of my misshapen taters, so much for the big potato bailout.